The latest version of iTunes brings improved syncing and application management, allows easier sharing of content, features a redesigned iTunes Store, and includes enhanced albums in the form of iTunes LPs.

The update to Apple's media player and online store is now available for download.

"iTunes 9 is a great iTunes release, with innovative features that make using iTunes better than ever and iTunes content richer than ever," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "iTunes LP, for example, lets artists share more of their creativity with fans and gives music lovers the feeling of being immersed in an entire album with art, lyrics, liner notes, photos and videos."

A new Applications view allows users to view all of their iPod touch and iPhone home screens. The new feature will allow users to rearrange applications on the computer, designated which software goes where.

A redesigned iTunes store includes new artist, movie and TV pages, complete with improved navigation. The cleaner layout is designed to make it easier for customers to browse. The store also includes iTunes LPs, which will bring additional content, such as audio, video, pictures, liner notes and more, exclusively to full-album purchases. The enriched album format is designed to encourage purchases of full-length albums instead of singles. One example showed iTunes scrolling through lyrics as a song played.

Similarly, DVD-like special features are coming for movie downloads. iTunes Extras provide documentaries, deleted scenes, interviews and interactive galleries. The feature is available for select movies, including "Twilight," "Batman Begins," "WALL-E," "Iron Man" and "The Da Vinci Code."

Improved home sharing will let users copy songs, movies and TV shows among up to five authorized computers. Users are required to have an iTunes Music Store account. The new feature will allow content to be streamed, or included in a separate library with a local copy. In addition, a separate display allows users to see content that is not in their local library.

The rumored social media integration in iTunes 9 because official as well. Links to content can be share directly with Facebook and Twitter.

The Genius feature has also received an upgrade: Genius Mixes are created by using the results of over 27 million music libraries featuring more than 54 billion total songs submitted and analyzed by Genius. The new Genius Mixes can automatically generate up to 12 "endless mixes" of songs from an iTunes library.

A new Applications view allows users to view all of their iPod touch and iPhone home screens. The new feature will allow users to rearrange applications on the computer, designated which software goes where.

Wow - a feature I might actually find useful. Certainly come in handy, and I can organize a bit more. I hope they have more app organizing features. I'd love to be able to visit an app in the app store (like you can click an arrow next to a song and go to the store). or sort by rating or size or date...

OK everyone - install itunes 9 and tell me what's broken before I go home and install it myself. :-)

Hmm, nobody buys albums because there rarely are more than a couple of good songs on it. Record company's can't understand why people won't pay for things they don't want. So they decide to add liner notes, lyrics, and making of video's about the crappy song's nobody likes, charge a extra $5 for it and expect people to now buy the whole album.

The rest of the new features of itunes 9 seem alright but I don't have a iphone/itouch so I can't really comment much about them.

Hmm, nobody buys albums because there rarely are more than a couple of good songs on it. Record company's can't understand why people won't pay for things they don't want. So they decide to add liner notes, lyrics, and making of video's about the crappy song's nobody likes, charge a extra $5 for it and expect people to now buy the whole album.

The rest of the new features of itunes 9 seem alright but I don't have a iphone/itouch so I can't really comment much about them.

Maybe people should re-evaluate their musical choices... the bands I listen to don't put out albums with filler songs... but even this won't replace the experience of buying the cd... digital downloads are good for a la carte purchasing...

So we've already got two separate libraries in this house, with only one iTunes account. This just makes it easy to see what's on one and not the other? And easier to copy from one to the other?

Making it easier is a big deal, because it is a huge PITA right now. This is almost exactly what I wanted. If I were to buy a song on my pc now, it would only be on my pc. If I bought it on my mac or my iphone, it would only be on my mac and iphone (my iphone syncs with my mac). Now I can have everything on all devices, that is perfect. I can also go to town ripping movies on my pc (which is much faster with more hard drive space) and add them to itunes there knowing that I can easily access and transfer the ones I want to my mbp when I need them.

Making it easier is a big deal, because it is a huge PITA right now. This is almost exactly what I wanted. If I were to buy a song on my pc now, it would only be on my pc. If I bought it on my mac or my iphone, it would only be on my mac and iphone (my iphone syncs with my mac). Now I can have everything on all devices, that is perfect. I can also go to town ripping movies on my pc (which is much faster with more hard drive space) and add them to itunes there knowing that I can easily access and transfer the ones I want to my mbp when I need them.

You're right, I didn't mean to trivialize it so much. I don't like keeping up with purchases made on separate Macs by different people. Or on iPhone or iPods for that matter. I've been copying them around using Public folders....

This is probably the thing I'm most interested in looking at from today's news.

The verdict just reaffirmed the (stupid, sorry, shameless) state of the industry, where an independent third party can't offer that feature.

But that doesn't stop the industry and Apple from negotiating a blessed solution. (Which would almost certainly include a convenience charge for ripping/transcoding, in addition to having the result wrapped in fairplay)

I don't like that the Shopping Cart was removed from the Store section in the main left column. This whole "Wish List" thing buried in the profile/account drop-down without any easy access or preferences to manage it is not cool. I'll get used to it, but such an unfriendly change wasn't necessary.

Unless it's me, the new iTunes 9 does not allow me to find games under their sub genre. So, I was trying to search for RPG's for example, but it only allows me to search for games. There's no sub heading or anything like that. If so, this would seem to make finding what you want a bit unwieldy.

I generally support the design changes in the new version of iTunes, BUT:
1) Please put the Shopping Cart or "Wish List" back in the main left column for the Store section
2) I wish you hadn't removed the resize slider for the thumbnail view.
3) The all white background is not appealing at all; especially in a large screen environment. It makes me wish it had the same adjustable background color that iPhoto has.
4) The banner graphic you've created for their "Social Networking App Essentials" is UGLY by Apple standards - on a Microsoft clipart level.

The verdict just reaffirmed the (stupid, sorry, shameless) state of the industry, where an independent third party can't offer that feature.

But that doesn't stop the industry and Apple from negotiating a blessed solution. (Which would almost certainly include a convenience charge for ripping/transcoding, in addition to having the result wrapped in fairplay)

I'm hoping for some sort or miracle too, but I just don't see it as very likely. If anyone can do it, Apple can. A better solution would be actual laws legalizing the ripping of purchased content, even if it involves breaking DRM, but that is even less likely.

Improved home sharing will let users copy songs, movies and TV shows among up to five authorized computers. Users are required to have an iTunes Music Store account. The new feature will allow content to be streamed, or included in a separate library with a local copy. In addition, a separate display allows users to see content that is not in their local library.

Now this is very interesting. It is definitely a step toward a more media-centric home network. I am in no position to know for sure, but IF Apple were planning a revamped Apple TV, then this feature would be a no-brainer. I'm just sayin'

So we've already got two separate libraries in this house, with only one iTunes account. This just makes it easy to see what's on one and not the other? And easier to copy from one to the other?

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmf2

Making it easier is a big deal, because it is a huge PITA right now. This is almost exactly what I wanted. If I were to buy a song on my pc now, it would only be on my pc. If I bought it on my mac or my iphone, it would only be on my mac and iphone (my iphone syncs with my mac). Now I can have everything on all devices, that is perfect. I can also go to town ripping movies on my pc (which is much faster with more hard drive space) and add them to itunes there knowing that I can easily access and transfer the ones I want to my mbp when I need them.

Upon initial review, I'm not sure it really makes it all that much easier, unless I'm missing something. It appears that it's very similar to the existing library sharing with the exception that you can now click a button and have the song copied to the local library. But that assumes you know which songs you want/need to copy. I don't think it will make the comparison between libraries (what's in one but not the other) any easier. And be careful, if you click to copy the same song more than once, you'll end up with more than one copy in your local library! And it looks like the automatic syncing is only for iTS content, not CDs your rip yourself (but I don't have a CD to test that).

Still, it makes it a little easier. I was hoping from the initial information that it would show the two libraries as a single library that I could make playlists with both local and streamed songs, etc, so that I could have a central iTunes Music folder with each Mac having its own iTunes Library XML file to manage playlists, etc for that Mac.

Upon initial review, I'm not sure it really makes it all that much easier, unless I'm missing something. It appears that it's very similar to the existing library sharing with the exception that you can now click a button and have the song copied to the local library. But that assumes you know which songs you want/need to copy. I don't think it will make the comparison between libraries (what's in one but not the other) any easier. And be careful, if you click to copy the same song more than once, you'll end up with more than one copy in your local library! And it looks like the automatic syncing is only for iTS content, not CDs your rip yourself (but I don't have a CD to test that).

Still, it makes it a little easier. I was hoping from the initial information that it would show the two libraries as a single library that I could make playlists with both local and streamed songs, etc, so that I could have a central iTunes Music folder with each Mac having its own iTunes Library XML file to manage playlists, etc for that Mac.

I guess I'll have to reserve final judgement until I have the chance to use it. The concept has a alot of potential and anything is better than nothing.

Hm. Like the new look, and the iPhone sync tabs are considerably improved, but.. (YMMV, as these may be bugs only affecting me, or everyone born on a certain day of the week, or I could be just being an idiot =

(1) The green window button (top left of OS X windows) now only brings the mini-window up to normal size - it can't return it to that size. Clicking on it again just toggles between not-quite-fullscreen window and normal size. So shift-cmd-M is now the *only* way to enter mini-player size?

(2) No iPhone pages in the applications sync tab? According to the site, I should see an iPhone display-sized pane to the right of the (now sortable) list of apps, but I'm only seeing the list of apps. Hopefully I'm just missing a step somewhere, as iTunes arrangement of apps is something I've been longing for.

(3) The App Store pulldown of categories is missing some, including Music.

(4) Slight downgrade in the Movies sync tab - previously, files that weren't compatible (codec unsupported on the device, too large a frame size (eg 720p), or unsupported options, like pyramidal B-frames in H.264) were grayed out, whereas now, they simply get skipped over in the sync process, if selected. So you only get to find out whether a file's iDevice-compatible after attempting to sync it.

Making it easier is a big deal, because it is a huge PITA right now. This is almost exactly what I wanted. If I were to buy a song on my pc now, it would only be on my pc. If I bought it on my mac or my iphone, it would only be on my mac and iphone (my iphone syncs with my mac). Now I can have everything on all devices, that is perfect. I can also go to town ripping movies on my pc (which is much faster with more hard drive space) and add them to itunes there knowing that I can easily access and transfer the ones I want to my mbp when I need them.

I just tried it to copy a song from one Mac to another. It's sweet. Now I want to know the mechanics of the file transfer.